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Québec is well-positioned for the energy transition due to its low-cost, low-carbon electricity and a mature mining sector for critical minerals. However, the province faces significant challenges, including a high public debt-to-GDP ratio of 45% (2020-2021), a shortage of skilled labor in clean-tech SMEs, and the need to rebuild trust with Indigenous peoples for new large-scale projects. While the province has a strong ecosystem of transition-supporting companies—particularly in electric transport and industrial transition—it faces intense global competition from the US, EU, and China, and its firms often secure less capital at each funding stage compared to US counterparts.

Saskatchewan faces significant economic risks due to its heavy reliance on the oil and gas sector, which generated 16% of its provincial GDP in 2019. While the province possesses strong competitive advantages in wind, solar, and critical minerals, it lags behind other Canadian provinces in attracting transition-related investments. Most current growth is concentrated in agtech and alternative proteins, while public and private funding for broader research and development remains limited. The report highlights a critical need for more ambitious climate policies and better support for workforce transition, particularly in small communities like Coronach, to avoid severe economic decline.

The document identifies systemic barriers to transitioning away from fossil fuels, particularly for countries heavily reliant on oil and gas revenues, such as Canada, Nigeria, and Malaysia. It argues that a successful transition requires multilateral coordination between importers and exporters, collaborative governance frameworks, and a commitment to Just Transition principles to avoid exacerbating global inequalities. Key recommendations include strategic economic diversification, the use of multi-model evidence for planning, and the implementation of restorative justice to address historical harms.

The report argues that traditional economic tools, such as cost-benefit analysis and equilibrium models, are inadequate for the structural changes required by the energy transition. It proposes a shift toward 'Risk-Opportunity Analysis' and dynamic modelling that accounts for induced innovation and learning-by-doing. Based on successes in solar PV, LED lighting, and wind power, the authors outline ten principles for policymaking, emphasizing targeted investment, risk management, and adaptive policy packages. National case studies in Brazil, China, and India suggest that while decarbonisation has a negligible impact on overall system costs and GDP, the transition requires significant up-front investment and careful management of distributional impacts, particularly in coal-dependent regions.

The document analyzes Brazil's unique energy landscape, where a predominantly renewable electricity mix coexists with a significant reliance on petroleum for transport and a growing oil production sector. It highlights the tension between the government's climate commitments and its plans to expand oil production, particularly in the Equatorial Margin. The briefing suggests that Brazil can leverage its G20 and COP30 leadership to promote the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies and use oil revenues to fund green innovation and forest conservation, while recommending the introduction of an upstream carbon tax to manage environmental externalities.

India aims for net-zero emissions by 2070, with interim 2030 goals including 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity and 50% energy requirements from renewables. The transition faces significant hurdles, including a heavy reliance on coal (84% of power generation) and high import dependency for crude oil and solar components. Financial requirements are immense, estimated between USD 5.7 trillion by 2050 and USD 10.1 trillion by 2070. The report emphasizes the need for a 'just transition' to protect the livelihoods of approximately 13 million people dependent on coal mining and to address regional economic imbalances. Opportunities for acceleration include the green hydrogen policy, expansion of offshore wind, and the development of domestic energy storage manufacturing to reduce reliance on China.

The Financing Steel Decarbonization (FSD) instrument is designed to mobilize private finance for the adoption of commercially available and pre-commercial low-carbon technologies in India's steel sector. It consists of two entities: the Steel Decarbonization Financing Facility (SDF), a blended debt fund, and the Steel Decarbonization Initiative (SDI), a service provider for project implementation. Over five years, FSD intends to deploy nearly USD 1 billion to mobilize an additional USD 3.4 billion in private investment, targeting a 25% reduction in emission intensity for approximately 20 MTPA of capacity.

The report identifies four priority sub-sectors for green investment in India: Green Hydrogen, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), and Waste Management & Material Circularity. It highlights a significant investment gap, noting that India may face a shortfall of $3.5 trillion to achieve its net-zero target. For Green Hydrogen, the report emphasizes the need to reduce costs from above $4/kg to $2/kg to achieve economic viability. In the BESS sector, it projects annual battery demand between 106 GWh and 260 GWh by 2030. Climate Smart Agriculture is presented as a critical area for both mitigation and adaptation, though currently underfunded in upstream and on-farm solutions. Waste Management is highlighted as a $45 billion market opportunity by 2030, with a specific focus on the growing potential of lithium-ion battery recycling. The document also argues for the urgent scaling of private adaptation financing, noting that 80% of key adaptation markets in India are currently nascent or mid-level.

The report examines the uneven progress of carbon pricing in Asia, contrasting the advanced emissions trading systems (ETS) in Japan and South Korea with the early-stage designs in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It argues that while the EU CBAM poses a financial risk to exporters—particularly in the steel sector—the overall impact is limited and can be mitigated by implementing effective domestic carbon pricing and transitioning to cleaner production technologies. The document provides specific fee estimates for each country and recommends phasing out carbon offsets, implementing absolute emission caps, and shifting toward the auctioning of allowances to drive genuine decarbonisation.

The report analyzes how the EU chemical sector has avoided the costs of carbon pollution through free allowances under the EU ETS, noting that 98% of emissions since 2013 were covered. It highlights that the sector remains a major emitter, with emissions increasing in 2024, and that the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) currently only covers a small fraction of the industry. The author argues that this system protects polluters and hinders decarbonization, specifically citing BASF as an example of a company receiving more allowances than it needs while opposing carbon costs. The report recommends a clear phase-out timeline for free allowances, more ambitious benchmarking, and the introduction of decarbonization conditionalities.

The report argues that climate change will increasingly exacerbate risks to US national security by intensifying physical impacts and mounting geopolitical tensions over the energy transition. It identifies a likely increase in cross-border conflicts over water and migration, strategic competition in the Arctic, and the risk of unilateral solar geoengineering. The document highlights 11 highly vulnerable countries and two regions (Central Africa and Pacific island states) where climate-induced instability may necessitate increased US diplomatic, humanitarian, and military resources. It also notes that current global policies are insufficient to meet Paris Agreement goals, leading to competition over critical minerals and technologies.

A coalition of twenty-five environmental and justice organizations argues that the IPPNY petition would improperly subsidize fossil fuel-based technologies that are not truly zero-emissions. The commenters contend that the proposed definition of "zero emissions" contradicts the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), threatens disadvantaged communities with continued pollution, and ignores the recommendations of the Power Generation Advisory Panel. They urge the Commission to focus instead on energy storage and the phase-down of fossil fuel generation.

A coalition of 73 organizations argues that California's 2022 Draft Scoping Plan fails to accelerate climate targets or increase the pace of action beyond existing commitments. The group proposes a comprehensive set of revisions, including phasing out oil extraction by 2035 and refining by 2045, banning new gas-fired power generation immediately, and achieving a zero-carbon electric sector by 2035. They also call for a 30% reduction in vehicle miles traveled by 2035, a phase-out of new gas appliance sales by 2030, and the limitation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to only the most essential, hard-to-decarbonize sectors.

The document identifies nine clean flexibility tools categorized by their function: optimizing supply, storing energy, sharing electricity, and shifting demand. These tools include pumped hydro, batteries, long duration energy storage (LDES), green hydrogen, grids and interconnectors, peak shaving, and smart electrification. It argues that while the Azerbaijani delegation at COP29 proposed targets for storage, grid expansion, and green hydrogen, a comprehensive approach must also include demand-shifting and supply-flexibility tools to fully unlock renewable energy potential.

The report advocates for the creation of a 'Comanche Energy Park' in Pueblo, Colorado, to replace the retiring Comanche coal plant by 2031. This strategy involves a diversified portfolio of wind, solar, and battery storage paired with 'flexible' industrial technologies like thermal batteries and hydrogen electrolyzers. The goal is to provide a reliable, clean electricity supply while stimulating local economic growth and maintaining property tax revenues without placing the full financial burden on Xcel Energy customers.

The report argues that the United States can leverage its vast offshore wind potential to provide 10-25% of its total electricity generation by 2050 without significantly increasing wholesale costs. It details three ambition scenarios (Low, Medium, and High), noting that a High Ambition target of 750 GW by 2050 would result in wholesale costs only 0.25% higher than a baseline scenario. The analysis emphasizes that offshore wind complements land-based renewables, reducing the required installation rate of the latter. However, scaling the industry requires substantial capital investment—exceeding $260 billion in the supply chain through 2045—and a shift toward clustered transmission planning to reduce interconnection costs by 35%. The report also projects that a High Ambition scenario could support approximately 390,000 jobs by 2050.

The document critiques the promotion of hydrogen energy as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, characterizing it as a distraction from the deep systemic changes needed to address the climate crisis. It asserts that hydrogen production is inefficient and serves to support the fossil gas industry, which continues to cause environmental and social destruction globally.

Friends of the Earth International asserts that all forms of hydrogen—regardless of their color classification—are costly and inefficient, serving as a distraction from necessary systemic changes to address the climate crisis. The document claims that hydrogen deployment primarily benefits the fossil fuel industry, specifically the gas sector, and risks perpetuating environmental and social destruction in places like Colombia and Mozambique.

China's wind and solar megabases are increasingly relying on local industrial consumption and standalone battery storage to mitigate transmission bottlenecks and curtailment. However, the integration of renewables into coal-to-chemicals projects, such as those by Baofeng Energy, risks supplementing rather than replacing coal. Furthermore, the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) is characterized as conservative regarding transmission capacity and fossil fuel phase-out, potentially allowing coal-fired generation to rebound if demand growth exceeds renewable deployment.

China is leading global utility-scale solar and wind expansion, with a massive pipeline of prospective capacity concentrated in six northwestern and northern provinces. However, the 'megabase' strategy faces significant hurdles, including rising curtailment and a transmission network that remains heavily reliant on coal. While the growth of green hydrogen and standalone battery storage offers a path toward local industrial decarbonization, there is a risk that these renewables will merely supplement rather than replace coal-based industries. The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) continues renewable growth but maintains a role for fossil fuels, suggesting that transmission and market flexibility remain the primary bottlenecks for a full transition.